


Solemn vows

by Maxmar1337



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Fantasy, Magic, Middle Ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:36:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8155882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxmar1337/pseuds/Maxmar1337
Summary: Jack Savage and Nick Wilde try to make a living in this damned and cruel world. They are on a quest to ensure the safety of a few villagers, when things go bad. Set in an Fantasy AU with magic and mythical creatures.





	

“We’re close” mumbled a Fox in the dark, his emerald eyes having no problem seeing the environment. It was different for his companion though. Jack could probably see, well, jack shit, that’s what Nick would’ve called it. Despite all the magic power that Jack had, he couldn’t get past his physical limitations. He was still just a bunny. He had excellent hearing, could conjure vast amount of water from thin air, even enhance his physical abilities, but despite all that he was still blind in the dark. Thus, Nick carried him piggyback in order for him to not make too much of a commotion in case he ran into a wall or fell down a slope. They were on the hunt, after all.

“Why do they always have to hide in underground caverns? Why not an open field full of flowers for once? That would make for a nice change of scenery.” The rabbit whispered into Nick’s ear and thus making sure that he heard him. Both of them chuckled a little at the sentence.

“I should charge you for doing this.” Nick whispered jokingly, referring to the piggyback ride that he was giving him. This time it was only Jack chuckling.

“You keep forgetting that you still owe me more than you can ever repay. Just think about what I spent for you, just to get you out of that trouble with the three vixens.” Jack retorted.

“I will abandon you right here!” Nick said a little louder than he actually had planned. Jack reprimanded him by punching him in the side, right in one of his kidneys. Nick bit his lower lip to suppress the pain and keep himself from screaming.

They heard a frightened female yell in front of them. “Please, don’t! I will give you anything you want!” followed by a scream that was filled with pain and agony. The noise was deafening. It grew louder and louder, turning into a high pitched screech until it stopped abruptly with a loud hissing sound and a thump as if something fell to the ground. A few more steps, Nick crossed the next corner and could see a faint light at the end of the passage.

“Alright, I’m going to drop you now. There's a light up ahead,” he whispered before letting the rabbit slide off his back onto the cavern floor.

Jack and Nick silently delved deeper into the tunnel until they reached a spot from which they had a good view into the larger cave. Torches were placed on stands around the cave, illuminating the cavern so it was well lit. Besides that, a few other things of personal nature were scattered around the room. It was clear that someone had made the cave their home. More important than the environment was the pentagram drawn in one corner of the room.

At each point of the star was a living mammal dressed in simple garments. Nick could see exactly which ones there were; a bear, a rabbit, a wolf, a sheep and a fox. Five animals for five points of the star. In the centre of the pentagram stood a badger, next to the corpse of a deer. His hands and eyes glowed with a dark green aura seemingly preparing some kind of ritual.

Nick took his time to inspect the deer closer.

The colour of its fur was completely off. It was a mix between different grey shades and created the illusion that its fur colouring had been sucked out of it. Furthermore, the body looked withered. It was clear that something happened to it, since no living being could possibly look like that.

 _Only skin and bones left. We might end that way too_ , Nick thought.

He wasn’t sure if it was his own thoughts or the image in front of him, but he could feel a shiver running down his spine. He felt a paw on his shoulder and looked to the side to see his partner as confident as ever.

“Dumb bunny, sly fox?” Jack asked.

Nick answered with a simple nod. He closed his eyes, enveloping himself in darkness.

_Fox’s patron Renart, I hereby request your blessing. By the power of our lineage, by our spiritual bond._

First it was his breathing that slowed until it seemed as if he stopped completely, then his heart rate. He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands to see them become a little transparent. He clapped his hands in excitement, but no sound was heard. No matter how many times Nick experienced this, he was still amazed by it and the feeling could only be described as heavenly. He was calm and relaxed, yet his body was ready to spring at a moment’s notice. He felt as if he was floating in the air.

“They say it is bad luck to open your eyes before the transformation is fully over, but I never believed it.” He smirked at that.

“One of these days you will pay for your foolishness. I just hope I won’t be around for that.” Jack grumbled at Nick’s foible. Nick answered to that by patting the bunny between his ears.

Without wasting any more time, he crouched into a stance which allowed him to sneak into the cave. He stepped through the cave until he was on the wall opposite to Jack. Hiding from view behind a crate and signalled Jack by extending his arm, showing a thumb up. Nick could see him nod.

The circle began to glow before either of them could react. “Shcad shcad shcad…” The Badger started the incantation.

Jack ran out of his hiding spot and into the vast cave. “What do you think you’re doing there?!” he yelled. Nick could see the badger quiver for a moment. His face formed his casual smirk.

“Who are you!? What are you doing here!?” The Badger barked in fear and fury. Without a warning, he shot a green glowing orb at Jack. The attacked raised a paw, where glowing blue strings formed around it. In that instant, a wall of water appeared in front of him, absorbing the green orb with a hiss and creating tiny streams of steam.

“Another mage? How nice of you to come here, colleague!” the Badger said, a certain contentment could be heard in his voice. At the mention of them being colleagues Jacks face showed anger.

“We’re nothing alike, you and I!” Jack yelled. The badger giggled at this show of emotion, his paws still glowing with a green aura. He placed a paw on the dead deer’s skull and the tips of the Badgers claws began to glow

Jack uttered his own enchantment; Ice shards seemed to grow from nothing as the mage continued his spell. The rabbit pushed his hands out, casting the ice shards towards the badger. Three out of four hit their target, two inside the upper body, one inside the leg.

Jack smirked for only a moment before he realized his spell was for naught. The Badger continued with his incantation, despite being wounded.

Suddenly the green light expired. The Badger bled profoundly from the wounds that Jack had caused.

“These wounds matter not.” The Badger mumbled. Pain and exhaustion were evident in his voice.

A creak of bones followed his words as the dead deer began rising in front of him.

It raised itself until it stood on two legs. It was hunched over and seemed ready to attack. The hollow sockets, where eyes used to be before, glowed with a greenish light flickering in the skull.

The creature made a step forward and Jack took a defensive stance. The reanimated deer charged with an unbeastly speed at him. Having obviously not expected this speed from a previously dead deer its antler struck Jack square in the chest sending him flying into the cave wall behind him. He slunk to the floor unconscious.

All the while, the badger had started the incantation anew. “Shcad, shcad, shcad…”

 _Shit!_ Nick thought.

He pulled out two knives from a hidden scabbard and threw them at Jack’s attackers. One struck harmlessly into the skin of the possessed deer whilst the other wedged itself in between the badger’s shoulder blades.

“Who?” the badger snarled, looking in Nick’s direction. Renart’s blessing made it hard for other mammals to look at him, their eyes hardly able to focus on him, allowing him to remain hidden unless they wanted to see him. Unfortunately for him, this was the case now.

The badger regarded Nick and continued to chant the incantation. “Shcad, shcad, shcad…”

Nick raised another dagger in his paw, ready to fling it at the Badger. The deer suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his line of sight. It held a rabbit’s feet in his hooves.

It was the unmistakable outline of his unconscious companion, hanging lifelessly upside-down. A chill ran down Nick’s back.

The deer swiped at him with incredible speed. It was only thanks to the blessing that Nick managed to evade it as he ducked himself under the hoof.

“Shcad, shcad, shcad, shcad, shcad!” The chanting was more intense now, despite the clear pain and exhaustion in the badgers voice.

Nick knew he had to act now.

He placed his paws on the ground beneath him, pushing himself off of it, while extending his legs towards the deer. His feet hit the creature in the chest, causing it to stumble back a few steps.  

To Nick’s dismay, it still held on to Jack.

 _Once more unto the breach!_ He thought.

He started running towards it, this time tackling the deer with everything he had and throwing it back towards the badger. Nick fell on the ground and looked up as a scream resounded through the cave.

“Noooo!” the Badger screeched as the Deer stumbled into the circle with Jack still in hoof.

A blinding light filled the room as the screech echoed through the cave.

The light dimmed shortly after and revealed Jack lying in a pile of ashes. The badger was gone and where he once stood, there was also only ashes and the clothes he had worn. Unfortunately, the living mammals that were planned to be sacrifices were also gone.

“Jack!” he yelled and ran towards his companion.

He pulled him out under the pile of ashes, holding him in his arms. Nick laid an ear on his chest to hear if his heart was still beating.

_Thank Renart. He is still alive._

He carefully patted his cheek. “Jack, wake up.”

One eye opened sleepily. “N-Nick?”

Relief filled him. A broad smile appeared on his face.

“Yes, it's me. You alright?”

Nick looked to the pile of ashes and clothes that used to be the badger.

“He got burned pretty badly. He shouldn’t have played with magic he didn’t fully understand.” Nick laughed.

He looked down at Jack again and froze. Jack had opened both of his eyes, his gaze upon Nick. His colour of the eyes were different. Instead of Jacks’ usual sky blue iris’s, his eyes were now turned to a greenish colour, cold and treacherous.

It all happened in an instant. He felt a paw grasp his left eye, saw a green light and felt pain as intense as he had never felt before in his life.

He screamed in pain, dropped the bunny and sprang a few feet away on all fours. He could hear the quiet hissing of the remnants of the burning magic on his face. He could smell the burned fur and flesh. Half his vision was dark, pitch-black.

His comrade arose in front of him.

“Jack? No…” His voice was hoarse and frightened. Nick’s heart felt as if a knife had pierced it, his remaining vision got blurred by the swelling tears that began to form in his remaining eye.

“Jack is gone,” the rabbit said, with the voice that Nick had always associated with his dear friend. A voice filled with confidence, experience, and humour was now twisted into something dark and threatening.

Nick drew another pair of knives. The pain in his face seemed to overwhelm his senses, filling his head with static. There was only one thought that he could make out from the multitudes of noises in his head.

_Kill him or be killed._

It was more instinct than an actual thought. Yet he knew that it was right.

His body moved on its own, flinging the knife into the Bunny’s head. It was probably more luck than actual skill.

The rabbits’ body grew limp and fell to the ground.

 _One of these days you will pay for your foolishness._ The sound of Jack’s past words resounded in his head.

_One of these days you will pay for your foolishness. Pay for your foolishness. Pay for your foolishness! Foolishness! Foolishness! Pay! Fool!_

Like an avalanche the multitude of thoughts rolled over him. Nick laid himself on the ground, bringing his paws to his head while he wept into them. 

“Why?” he mumbled hoarsly at first. “Why? Why?! WHY?!” His voice grew louder and more desperate every time he said the word.

The pain in his face was unimaginable, making his face and head numb. His heart ached for the loss of his long time brother in arms.

Nick laid there for what seemed to be an eternity, all he felt was grief and pain. Whenever he thought the worst to be over, he saw another memory before his eyes, stabbing another dagger into his heart. New tears would dwell up into his eyes and annihilate all the resolve that he had built up to stand up.

Eventually he reached the point, where he could shed no more tears. He felt exhausted, his head hurt more than ever before.

Nick stood up slowly, approached the rabbit in front of him and picked up the body of his former friend.

On his way out, he bumped into countless walls and stalagmites, the loss of one of his eyes made it hard for him to assess the actual distance things had. When he finally reached the exit, he was greeted by the light of the morning sun.

He went in the opposite direction of the village that initially made a contract with them. Nick didn’t want to return to it ever again. He blamed them for Jack’s death, even if they had been frightened and wanted help when no one else was there. Nick blamed them and he knew that he would never be able to forgive them or himself. Even the money they had promised wasn’t enough for him to rethink his decision.

“You hear that, fluff? Greedy Nick refuses a decent amount of money. Isn’t that funny?” he said while chuckling. His gaze rested on Jack’s body.

He followed the path, unsure where it would lead him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank a few people. I have met them only recently, but I am ever so grateful for what they've managed to do for me in that short amount of time.  
> I want to thank Greywolfe, Blaer, As1anBeasTagE and Jman0525 for inspiring me to write this fanfiction.  
> Without your support and your great ideas I probably never would've gotten the courage to write this fanfiction.
> 
> And thanks to you, the reader, for taking your time to read my story.
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this magical ride with me.
> 
> This is only the first of many chapters, so I hope you stay tuned for more.


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